old dee

Cale Morton - 25 touches, 9 marks and a goal (94 supercoach points)

Colin Garland - 24 touches, 4 marks and a goal (114 supercoach points)

Both really important players for us in the future. Morton (and maybe Garland up forward?) is going to be a real match-up headache for a lot of opposition coaches.

Garland punched away so many balls from the pie's forward line and was precise by foot.

Really happy for both these guys tonight. Garland showed why so many rate him as forward with that massive goal outside 50.

Agree they were both very good but the best guy for me was Jamar, he beat the Pies hands down I am struggling to remember a ruck clash he lost and was great around the ground as well.

You will all fall on me but I thought Miller did a good job of helping Jamar out in the ruck today and with an ounce of luck he could have snagged another goal.

He played tough today and was going as hard at the end as at the start.

I thought it was a great game. That coverage went all over the world, & the MFC stood up on the big stage.

The team will learn heaps from that game, At the moment we match top sides sporadically.

Soon we will dictate weekly. Great to see some Flash Magic today.

I was proud of the team today.

Our Queens Birthday game is alive and very well.

Top turnout from the Demon Army today.

Take a bow. Our kids stood up-Jamar Beamer Green all Great.

That was september pressure today.

All what you say is true but you know what!

WE DID NOT WIN

And at the end of the day that is all that matters.

We will never be a force while we except anything less than a win.

They did however play with a lot more fire than last week.

Dunn in the forward line is a good move and while he did not kick a bag he fought it out every time it came near him.

No easy kicks when you play on him.

I have been a big critic but Jack earned his spot today.

Guys I just posted this in another topic.

Sylvia is in my opinion very doubtful.

He has been in hospital the best part of five days and would I believe have been on blood thiners.

The level he would have been taking would have been high and I believe ( My wife is in the medical indusrty )

it would take a few days for his blood to return to normal. From her comments I find it hard to believe

they would take the chance on playing Col with his blood in that state. If he still has thin blood

any serious knock could lead to a haemorrhage of a serious nature.

I do not think the medical staff would take any chance in that case.

As well his toe will take some time to get back to normal.

If he plays I will be very very surprised.

Guys I think you have all missed something, Sylvia is in my opinion very doubtful.

He has been in hospital the best part of five days and would I believe have been on blood thiners.

The level he would have been taking would have been high and I believe ( My wife is in the medical indusrty )

it would take a few days for his blood to return to normal. From her comments I find it hard to believe

they would take the chance on playing Col with his blood in that state. If he still has thin blood

any serious knock could lead to a haemorrhage of a serious nature.

I do not think the medical staff would take any chance in that case.

As well his toe will take some time to get back to normal.

If he plays I will be very very surprised.

Before we rush to too many conclusions and are too hard on the kid, its worth remembering that he was actually the youngest of the players we drafted 3 years ago and is actually the same age as most of those we drafted in the Jack Watts draft. He's the same age (separated by a cpl months) as Strauss, McNamarra, Bennell, and Jetta. Given that he's been getting over injuries and probably been struggling to get his body right i think we give him some time. Hopefully he'll become a good contributor to the team, but as with some of the other guys i've listed, we need to give them some time.

All of the above I agree with "PM24" however from the one game I saw at AFL level and a couple I have seen at Casey I think he is well below the guys you have listed above.

If he does have a contact for 2011 I think he can count himself lucky. We have lots of smaller quick players similar to him that he is way behind.

He will need some big games at Casey in the next month to justify a call up.

Not sure he will make it!

Why has no one mentioned Danny Hughes?? Is he really THAT out of favour at MFC? I have only seen his few appearances in the seniors but I think he has shown more potential than most of the other names mentioned.. Strong hands, fast, good overhead, courageous. Surely we can give him a few more games to see what he has got?

I think we are going to have 3 out through injury and 1 -2 dropped for poor performance.

So surely there is room to bring in Dunn and Hughes!

Like Dunn, I saw Hughes twice and thought he was a little unlucky to be dropped.

Both he and Dunn have a quality we will need on Monday and that is they are both strong and tuff.

Neither will be bluffed by pie thugs.

After we embarrased them earlier this year they will come out with all guns blazing, especially since we are getting a reputation for being slow starters.

ARGH, TYPO IN THE TITLE ): MOD PLEASE EDIT

MELBOURNE

James Frawley (back) test

Nathan Jones (hamstring) test

James McDonald (hamstring) test

Sam Blease (leg) 2 weeks

Liam Jurrah (shoulder) 3 weeks

Jake Spencer (knee) 3 weeks

Rohan Bail (cheekbone) 3-4 weeks

Luke Tapscott (hip) 4 weeks

Max Gawn (knee) 5 weeks

John Meesen (ankle) indefinite

Ricky Petterd (shoulder) season

Hope that Frawley, Jones and McDonald will be right for Queen's Birthday. Good to see Blease down to 2 weeks away and Fitzpatrick not on there anymore :D

Guys what is the situation with Meeson?

He has been "indefinite" for close to a year now!

What is his ankle injury? did his foot fall off?

1 year out and still no sign of him getting back seems strange.

The problems with our forward line are:

Watts is very young and very tall. Talls always take more time to develop. By 2012 he will be good, in time for our 2013 flag.

Jurrah is injured.

Petterd is injured.

FitzPatrick is young, even taller than Watts, and a beanpole. Again, watch him in 2012.

Miller is a spud who has played less than 13 really good games out of 130.

Bate and Green aren't key forwards. Can help, but not dominate.

Try coaching that lot at the moment.

That about covers it "Golf" but why hasn't Dunn been tried?

Perhaps he isn't keen! surely after 8 goals on saturday he might be played at full forward for a couple of quarters!

The most interesting thing Garry said on Footy Classified was that he was exactly the same, struggling to keep his feet, at the same stage of his career.

So... what is the problem? Essentially Gaz has confirmed that Jack is at least on track to be as good as he was.

Why are so many posters desperate to figure out what's broke with Jack that we need to fix, rather than just accepting the blatantly obvious fact that he is young and developing?

I mean, name ONE other KPF that has come on quicker than Jack Watts.

My gut feeling is that Franklins was making at lot more progress at 19 than our Jack.

Does anyone know how old he was in 2007?

I know your not slagging me HT, but I think the signs for Blease have been quite obvious.

1. Hobbling around after a half at Casey ressies

2. Minimal preseason this year

3. Training at the Junction oval 2 weeks ago could only do stationary handball drills.

4. Reported swelling in the leg.

These are not real good signs I'd say, I tend to believe he will be hard pressed to crack a game at Melbourne.

Then back to my opening comment

"My feeling ( based on very little info ) is that this year is a wash out.

Should he be sent on holiday till 2011 pre season? "

Or perhaps that is actually what is happening and the club just wants to keep the kids spirits up!

Any way thanks for the info Guys.

Does anyone actually know what the situation is with Meeson?

He has been "Indefinite" on the injured list for 12 months?

That's our clash jumper this year. No predominant red jumper or anything.

If you ask me every team should have a mainly white clash jumper with the team logo across the front (e.g. Doggies, Freo, Brisbane, St Kilda and now Melbourne). That includes you Essendon and Collingwood

Yes but we look like a bunch of Pansys in it, then again we used to be Fuchsias! Easy to see why we became the Demons.

I forgot Dunn and Martin, so a rough count of 17 players in 11 games, how is that for consistency......please can we have a bit of patience, yes I would like to see a flowing move from the back half resulting in a wonderful pack mark to Watts who then goals......but I will I may just have to wait a bit

If all the so called experts are correct forget about that until 2012 /2013.

I'm still wondering on Bailey to be honest however I believe I can see something there, I understand Josh has had a mixed bag to work with since round 1 however I don't believe the line has functioned as well as it could have, and in due part like it or not the blame will go back up the ladder to the man calling the shots. By no means am I having a shot at Watts he is still a baby trying on mens clothes I am happy to show patience with a young man of his ilk. I don't know much of this inner sanctum of which we all talk about, but I do know results and whats in front of me ain't pretty atm the cattle is there in different guises it's how you round the cattle up and make them do what you want counts alot in this game.

I wonder about Bailey however he has had precious little to work with up till now.

We now have a good back line, a developing mid field and one decent ruckman and a number of kids who look the goods but we will not know with some of them for another year or two.

Unfortunately the forward line is very ordinary this year and will only be marginly better next year.

2011 will tell us if Bailey is any good, IMO we will have a side next year that should be knocking on the door of finals football.

If we finish lower than 9th I will consider 2011 a failure.

The problem with our forward line is that we have no key forwards

Spot on "Loges"

That about says it all.

Hasn't played the last 3 weeks due to soreness in the area of his broken leg....fluid is still in and around the area causing some discomfort for Sam, however this fluid and assosciated soreness should and will reduce with time. he missed previous games for casey earlier in the season where he unluckily picked up a liver infection and subsequently lost 5 kilos.

This year is far from a wash out....I'm sure the trainers and Sam particularly would feel disapointed, if not insulted at that comment. He is giving 110% to currently get himself right again, and especially after seeing his mate and junior football partner, Jordan Gysberts do so well over the last 2 weeks, Sam is commited and still has the fire in his belly for the MFC.

At this stage it is looking like he might play this weekend for casey 2's however if not this week, then hopefully very shortly. With the broken leg he missed almost 18 months of footy and every game he can get under his belt between now and the rest of the season is crucial for his development.

Go Dees!

Thank you for the information. Seems to me ( what would I know! ) that he should kiss 2010 good bye and get ready for pre season training for the 2011 season.

Hope it is not another Nathan Brown ( Richmand ) job he never really came back from that broken leg.

At least Sam has youth on his side.

1858 agree with your forward line comments.

The things that upsets me with our game plan is with the exception of Watts we do not try different players in the forward line.

For the life of me I do not understand why we never try Garland, Warnock or Dunn as forwards.

They all came to Melbourne as Forwards, surely a half a game would not be to radical!

Why do we constanly flood all the forward line into defensive half? surely a couple of players left across the half forward line gives us some to kick to when the ball rebounds.

Last Saturday we had players in the centre of the ground with no one to deliver the ball to, the result they held onto the ball looking for someone and then were tackled and lost the ball or kicked to open space.

Nett result no score.

What sort of "Plan" is that?

If we had started playing at 2.10pm instead of around 3.10pm on saturday we probably woundn't be having this conversation.

Now that is a great plan B

Sure it was 1955 for Barass misjudging those marks? Given Charlie Sutton last week said his favorite moment of the 1954 GF was having RDB run into his elbow, I think Ron may have arrived by then.

Anyway, one G Lyon on Footy Classified made the interesting admission last night that in his very early days he had precisely the same problem as Watts, in keeping his feet.

Lyon said there was an issue of growing into his body and building up leg strength. Neither he nor Grant Thomas had any doubt Watts will make it.

Yes "pitmaster" I saw the same program however I think Grant Thomas once said "you don't need ruckman they are over rated"

So I don't take too much notice of him.

I hope Gary mean't it. if Jack turns out to be as good as Gary I will be very happy.

Important to remember even the very, very best AFL tall forwards rarely, if ever, show much before they're 20. It doesn't help to throw these kids in the deep end. They need to play in situations where they can actually get their hands on it and have shots on goal. Getting 3 touches and being beaten to the ball all day long doesn't help kids develop.

This is the same reason Watts could use another couple of games back at Casey to get his hands on it again.

Spot on "Inner Demon"

Jack should be playing for casey this weekend, his spot goes to Dunn who kicked 8 last week and will not intimidated by pie thugs.

You are correct Bobby I am only a little younger than you but remember it well.

That is exactly why Jack should be back at Casey this weekend.

He needs a confidence lift playing at a lower level.

Give the boy time to develop. Let me tell you a little story of one Ronald Dale Barassi. In 1955 he was playing good footy in the 2nds and was promoted as full forward in our developing seniors team. He was an absolute flop as he flew for 'screamers' without getting near the ball. In fact, he found it so hard to get the pill he was dropped back to the seconds. Again, at full forward in the twos, he kicked a bag and was promptly reinstated to the firsts. Same story. Completely out of his depth or so it seemed.He was dropped back to twos where he played in a 'new' position of 'ruck rover'. He did very well and was given yet another chance.( Was it because his father was a famous Melbourne player we thought?) Boy, oh boy, did he take it!!!!! As a ruck rover in the firsts he was a sensation and never saw the twos ever again. This is a true story folks. I was there at the 'G' to witness the beginning of this great man's career. ( pleased to say I was only 14 at the time but I remember it vividly.)

Now, the playing styles of Jack and Ron are completely different but in my humble opinion, true, natural ability will eventually shine through. Maybe Jack does need more time at Casey but I have a lot of faith after watching him play against Port up there in Darwin. Let us help him by not coming down on him like a ton of bricks when he has a quiet day.

It says on the Melbourne site in the injury list that he is going to be out for 2 weeks and that was last week. So I think he will be out for one more week and he will be back playing.

Finger crossed as I really want to see him play.

Thank you but what is actually wrong with him?

I may have missed some news on the subject of Blease's health.

Does anyone know were he is at and what is the current problem.

My feeling ( based on very little info ) is tha this year is a wash out.

Should he be sent on holiday till 2011 pre season?

Could not have said it better myself. Well done Jerry!

I hoped we would rise 4- 5 places on the ladder this year, that might be a bit hard with a very young side who tend to get tired in the second half of the year.

For the remainig games I think we have a good chance against Adelaide, Essendon,Richmond and Port Adelaide. If we could win those four we would finish with 8 wins. I was hoping for 10 this year but down deep inside I thought 8 wins would see us out.

Hope it will be more but i find it hard to believe our forward line can kick a winning score against the other teams.

Can some confirm for me - was it the 5th or 6th Carlton goal of the first quarter where Sylvia lined up on Kruezer at the bounce? Carlton scored a goal within 30 seconds. Next bounce - back comes Jamar.

The poor Russian. He's got no support; he knows he has to ruck all day. I thought he did well against 2 taller opponents and he took a few marks in the backline. He also gave away too many frees but that can happen with ruckwork and umpires interpretations.

At the moment there is no-one who can fill that second ruck spot, with Spencer, Meesan and Gawn Injured, Martin and PJ out of form, and Fitzpatrick not ready. Maybe Miller is an option. Try something different with him instead of leaving him as a forward who gets 6 touches for the day.

Sorry to say it but the only options are PJ and Martin.

Martin seems to have gone backwards and is sadly out of form.

PJ is ok at centre bounces but useless everywhere else.

So do we play an out of form Martin or PJ who gives us nothing outside of the centre circle.

I can see why Bailey has been pinch hitting with Miller and others.

With all his faults the only choice for Monday is PJ.

At least we get an even break at centre bounces!

God what a choice, glad I am not the coach.